On Wednesday evening, one of the most important Lithuanian fashion events of the year took place in the Great Courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes – the “ELLE Iconic Night”. The main evening of “Vilnius Fashion Week” brought together more than 1000 guests, ten of the brightest Lithuanian designers, representatives of the international ELLE community, creators, diplomats, business and media representatives from Lithuania and abroad.
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A huge podium, scenography specially created for this evening, lighting direction, music, and the historic architecture of the Palace of the Grand Dukes courtyard allowed Lithuanian fashion to unfold in a format, scale, and quality comparable to the major world fashion events.
Among the many famous guests, the show featured the businessman Jonas Garbaravičius’s beloved, model Silvija Romanovskytė. She posed for photographers together with her mother Inga.
The model was dressed in a leather suit and drew attention to her legs adorned with lace tights and black high heels. Next to her, I. Romanovskienė wore a black dress and held a “Saint Laurent” handbag.
In the center of the courtyard, one of the main scenographic details of the evening attracted attention – a huge installation of royal pillows inviting to stop, dream, and imagine. It subtly extended the creative direction of this year’s “ELLE Iconic Night” – “Dream, Vilnius, dream,” inspired by the legend of Grand Duke Gediminas, who dreamed of a city whose fame would spread around the world.
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This idea was created together with the entire ELLE team by the main director of the event Antanas Obcarskas and the author of scenography and lighting Antanas Buinauskas. The historic space of the Palace of the Grand Dukes became a contemporary fashion stage for one evening, where the city’s history met today’s creativity.
The gathered guests were addressed by Tadas Bruzgulis, the head of “Vilnius Fashion Week” and “ELLE Lithuania,” who reminded that talent sometimes needs very little – the opportunity to be noticed and heard. “Sometimes there is a very thin line between talent and success. It is the opportunity to be noticed, the opportunity to be heard. And tonight Lithuanian fashion has such an opportunity,” said T. Bruzgulis.
His words aptly summarized one of the most important ambitions of “Vilnius Fashion Week” – to create a stage for Lithuanian designers where their creations could be seen not only by the Lithuanian but also by the international audience.
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Ten Lithuanian designers on one podium
During “ELLE Iconic Night,” ten Lithuanian fashion creators presented their collections – Agnė Kuzmickaitė, Kęstas Rimdžius, Rimantė Rimgailaitė, Egidijus Rainys, Diana Paukštytė, Marija Petraitytė, Airida Skrick, Odeta Strasevičiūtė (ODMEGA), Liutauras Suvorovas, and JURE.
Different aesthetics of the creators merged into a coherent evening story – from subtle silhouettes and lace to bright shapes, Renaissance motifs, and contemporary fashion interpretations.
One of the most emotional and unexpected moments of the evening was the performance by Mantas Jankavičius. Together with music producer Leonas Somovas, he revived Bruce Springsteen’s “Dream Baby Dream”. When Mantas unexpectedly appeared and started singing from the balcony of the Palace of the Grand Dukes, the courtyard filled with more than a thousand people fell silent for a moment – many spectators got goosebumps. At the end of the piece, Mantas improvised and sang “Dream, Vilnius, dream” instead of the original words, thus unexpectedly linking the legendary song with the whole evening’s idea. The historic space of the Palace of the Grand Dukes, the music, and the performer’s voice from the balcony created one of the most touching moments of “ELLE
Iconic Night”. The entire evening was hosted and sensitively accompanied by Indrė Kavaliauskaitė – not only the event host but also one of the brightest creators of its atmosphere. With elegance, warmth, and direct communication with the audience, she gave the large-scale event coziness and sincerity.
Briefly about “Vilnius Fashion Week”
“Vilnius Fashion Week” takes place from August 28 to September 7. The international Vilnius Fashion Week returned to the event calendar last year after a 25-year break.
“Vilnius Fashion Week” is organized by “ELLE Lithuania” and “ELLE Baltic”.
The main partner of the fashion week is “Kronenbourg Blanc 1664 Non-Alcoholic”, and the information partners are DELFI and “JCDecaux”.
Upcoming events:
· September 3 – cultural diplomacy initiative “The Bridge”.
· September 5 – Young Designers’ Day, Lukiškės Prison 2.0.
· September 7 – Raimedas Latvis’s collection “MAX DRAMA” presentation at Vilnius Town Hall.
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